The present invention relates to a new and distinct cultivar of Astilbe, botanically known as Astilbe arendsii and hereinafter referred to by the name ‘Smile At Me’.
The new Astilbe plant is a product of a planned breeding program conducted by the Inventor in 's-Gravenzande, The Netherlands. The objective of the breeding program was to create new uniform and freely flowering Astilbe plants with attractive leaf and flower coloration.
The new Astilbe plant originated from a cross-pollination made by the Inventor in 2010 in 's-Gravenzande, The Netherlands, of two unnamed selections of Astilbe arendsii, not patented. The new Astilbe plant was discovered and selected by the Inventor as a single flowering plant from within the progeny of the stated cross-pollination in a controlled greenhouse environment in 's-Gravenzande, The Netherlands in 2012.
Asexual reproduction of the new Astilbe plant by vegetative divisions in a controlled environment in Afferden, The Netherlands since December, 2013 has shown that the unique features of this new Astilbe plant are stable and reproduced true to type in successive generations.